Bottle crate



E. M. PENNOCK BOTTLE CRATE April 21, 1931/ Filed Opt. 23, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 gmcnkw Edward M. Rnnock.

April 21, 1931- I E. M. PENNOCK 1,801,975

BOTTLE CRATE Filed Oct. 2 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gmntoz Edward M PennocR Patented Apr. 21, 1931 PATENT mce EDWAR M. PENNooK, or MiNNEAPoLIs, MINNEsoT ssm on To G. n. TENNANT ooNraNY, or MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, .A CORPORATION or MINNESOTA BOTTLE CRATE Application med october 23, 1926. Serial Naiiaeii.

My invention relates to a bottle crate wherein it 1s designed to provide a carrier wherein bottles can be contained to hold the same while being cleansed and sterilized in a creamery or filled, and for shipping so that the crate must be designed to stand Considerable wear and constructed so that one crate may bestacked upon the other.

Tt is also a feature of my invention to provide a crate wherein portions of the same are reinforced by'a metal coveringfto resist wear and to'strengthen portions of the crate so that the wooden .slat members, of which the sides of the crate is made up, will not be gouged out or worn byuse and lifting of the same such as is often the case where the crates are stacked one upon the other and a hook is used in the side of the crate to lift the crates sufficiently to slide them onto atruck.

A further object of my invention resides in a member adapted to be positioned between corner brace members to provide a filler and spacer at each corner which closes the space between the spaced angle members extending along the inside and outside of the corners of the crate and which forms a re inforcing member to provide the proper rigidity at the corners. These filler members provide a rest for the top rails, while the crate is being assembled, and are adapted to'be formed of sheet metal of an angular nature and locked between the corner brace members.

. My crate isdesigneid to provide a simple assembly of the parts wherein the side walls and top rails are formed of slat members which are slidtogether and then held in place by rivets extended through the cornermembers; The filler members at the cornersare therefore adapted to be, slid into place and when. the toprails are in position, these corner members are locked againstdisengagement. Should any of thefs'lats forming the sides andfendsofmy crate become broken resiliently supporting the bottles upon and between a series of longitudinally and transversely extending wire member's which are adapted to'be spaced apart to form compartments by a simple inexpensive means including angle-iron members which are inter-sected by'the rods which form the sides of the bottle compartments. The 1 center angle members are adapted to extend tothe lower or bottom rods, while theend angle members are held in a floating position andare intersected. bythe longitudinally and transverse- 1y extending rods. I provide suitable transverse rods which are'adaptedto carry a "supporting yoke member extending from one side't'oqthe other of the crate and at either end of the crate to support bottom rods, while the center vertical angle rods are adapted to carry part of'the load of the bottom rods by virtue of their long nature extending to the bottom of the crate and engaging with some offthe lowermost rods. p

These features, together with other objects will be more clearly and fully set forth in the specification and claims.

In the drawings:

. Figure 1- is a perspective view of my crate.

Figure 2 is sectional plan view on "the line 2 20f Figure 1, which section is taken just below the top rail's. j

F'gure 3 is a perspective view of one of the angularfillerniembers.

Figiire 4 is" a perspective detail, a portion of of my crate; Figure 5 is a section Figure 2. V

Figure 6 is a section through the corner member on the line 6-B of Figure 4. I

Figure 7 is a perspective view of one end of one of the reinforcing rails for the bottom of the top slat; V

Figure 8 is a detail sectionalview on the line 8- 8 of Figure 2. u x l Figure 9 is a perspective view of an alternative form of angular corner fillermembers. In-the drawings my crate A is made up'of a series of wooden slats 10 which are adapted which is broken away, of one of the corners "n the line '55"fo'f to beheld together by the corner angle 'mem;

bers 11 and 12, teenage member 11 farming the outer member of the corner, while the angle member 12 is adapted to form the inner angle member of the corner.

The inner angle member is adapted to be extended to form a stacking lug 14 at each corner of the crate A.

The outer angle member 11 is bent inwardly to provide the inturned edge 15 extending along the length of the angle member 11, illustrated clearly in Figure 6, and each of the slats 10 are saw-cut in a manner so as to be engaged by this inturned edge to lock the slats firmly in place between the corner members 11 and 12. By means of rivets 16 extending through the slats 10 and the angle corner members 11 and 12, the slats are held firmly in place.

The lowermost slats 10 of the sides and ends of my crate are provided with the reinforcing metal shoe 18 which is dovetailed on to the lower edge of the slat 10 at the bottom of the ends and sides of the crate in any ordinary manner. The outer corner member 11 is formed with inwardly extending lip portions 19 which extend beneath the corner of the bottom of the slats of the crate and extend upwardly on the inside of the crate at the corners, being mitered along the line 20 and held by the lower rivets 16. Thus the entire bottom of my crate A is reinforced with a metal covering so that when it is used it will slide easily over cement floors and on gravity carriers to permit the loaded crates A to be easily handled or slid about.

The upper rails 10 of my crate A are adapted to be spaced from the lower rails so as to provide openings about the entire crate which permit the crate to be easily engaged and handled. In use, the crates when filled with bottles of milk or for other purposes, are adapted to be stacked one upon the other, the stacking lugs 14 holding the crates in line. It is often desirable when the crates are stacked one upon the other to lift a stack of these crates by extending a hook beneath the end rails 10, thus lifting the crates sufficiently to slide them onto or off a truck or onto the gravity carrier. In uslng the hook in this manner the rails 1.0 are adapted to become worn or gouged out by the engagement of the hook on the rail. This is detrimental to the end rails 10 of the crate A and in time will cause them to break under the strain of the load. I desire to reinforce these rails 10 by the reinforcing channel member 22 which is dove-tailed onto the lower edge of the end rails 10, as illustrated in Figure 1 and in Figures 4 and 7, to clearly illustrate the construction of the reinforcing channel This channel 22 is formed with holding lug 23 which projects from the ends of the member 22 and which is adapted to engage beneath theends ot'the top rail 10 and between the sides of the corner members 11 and 12;

Further, I provide a corner filler member B of an angular nature as illustrated in Figure 3, which is adapted to be inserted between the corner members 11 and 12 resting upon the lower side rails and in a manner to form a shoulder against which the ends of the top rails 10 are adapted to rest. The end lugs 23 on the reinforcing members 22 also rest upon the angular filler members B. One of these filler members B is placed at each corner of the crate A and is adapted to be locked by the inturned edges 15 of the outer member 11 as clearly illustrated in Figure 6.

The angular filier members 3 are formed of sheetmetal which is adapted to be folded approximately at right angles to provide a corner 24. 'lhe angular filler member B is provided with side portions or plates 25 which extend from the corner portion 24 to the point 26. From this point 26 the plates are bent inwardly in a manner to form end plates 27 which extend at an angle from the plates and are formed with inwardly turned fian e ed es 27 which are ada )tcd to a C l.

engage with the edge 15 to lock the filler member B between the sides 11 and 12.

The corner portions 26 are adapted to projcc beyond the edges of the inner member 12 in a manner so as to form a smooth round corner to protect oncs hand when engaging the upper slats adjacent the corner angles 11 and 12.

This construction provides a crate A with hand openings 28 extending about the same. which openings are adapted to be the full length and width of the crate between the corner members 11 and 12, and having no projecting portions into the openings 28 but providing a full width opening which closed adjacent to the edges of the corner members 11 and 12 by the end portions 27 of the filler B as is illustrated in Figure 6. The filler B reinforces the corner of the crate between the members 11 and 12 at the open space for the sides and ends of the crate and also forms a shoulder for the ends of the upper slats to rest upon until they have been riveted by the top rivet 16. These filler members B may be slid into place between the outer and inner angle members 11 and 12. i

I provide a series of compartments for bottles in my crate A by extending pairs of longitudinally extending wires C which form the bottom oi. these bottle comp-.n'tnients and which are positioned near the lower edge of the bottom rail 10 of the ends of th crate A. as is illustrated in Figure 1. l

I also provide partition rods E which extend longitudinal of the crate above the pairs of rods C. These rods E are positioned between the center pair of bottom rods C and the outer pairs of bottom rods C illustrated in Figure 2. The rods E are adapted to form the side walls of the partition for the crate A extending longitudinally of the same. Directly below the partition rods E I provide reinforcing and supporting rods 30 which extend longitudinally in a plane with the pairs of rods E forming the longitudinal sides and which also are positioned in aplane with the bottom rods G whichform the bottoms of the bottle compartments. The transverse partition walls of the bottle compartments are formed by a series of pairs of rods 31 which are positioned so as to intersect in close proximity with the pairs 'of rods E extending through the crate A, as illustrated in detail in Figure 8. I also provide bottom reinforcing and supporting rods 32 at the ends ofthe crates which carry the U-shaped yoke 33 through which the longitudinal rods 30 extend and the center rod which extends transversely through the crate and which is adapted to extend through the lower end of the center angle corner irons 35. The longitudinal rods 30 also extend through the lower end of the angle corner members 35 as do also the rods E and the center rods v31. These long corner angle members 35 thus extend down near the bottom of the crate and are adapted to space the partition rods apart at the center of the crate and are also adapted to support the lower reinforcing rods 30 which extend through the U-shaped yoke 33, thereby transmitting the load of the bottom rods C which extend through the yokesupports 33 to the central angle member 35. In other words, distributing the load from the bottom rods C to the center corner members 35, which in turn distributes the load to the transverse rods 31 and the longitudinal partition rods E. In this manner I provide are silient, yet strong, firm partition and bottom supportingmeans for the bottles so that they can be turned upside down in the crates or rightside up and the rods willgive sufficiently to provide the necessary resiliency to the partitions of the crate A, preventing breaking of the bottles in hard use.

I provide short corner angle members 36 which are positioned in a manner so as to be intersected by the longitudinal rods E and the transverse rods 31, thereby providing corners and spacers for the rods to reinforce the crate partitions.

It is therefore apparent that I have illustrated a crate A of a simple yet very practical nature for supporting bottles and having a construction adapted to provide a long wearing crate, being reinforced and made rigid at points where the strain is adapted to come, yet providing resilient cradle-like bottle supporting wire partitions and bottoms to prevent breaking of the bottles under hard usage; 7

The reinforcing members 22 strengthen the end rails 10. and prolong the lift of my crate A. while the spacer filler members B form shoulders and reinforcing fillers be tween the outer an'dfirm'eranglemembers ll 11 and and are ofa metal construction being locked in place and being formed of a singlepiece of sheet material.

In Figure 9 I have illustrated 'a'n-alternative construction of corner member B wherein the inner corner portion forms the inner edge of the pieces of sheet metal which forms the corner filler B. .The corner member is made of a piece of metal which is folded over so that the inner plates 25 are theinner ends of the member, while the end plates 27 are adapted to connect with the outer plates 50 and are integrally connected together at the outer corner 51. This corner member B is provided with a double side wall, whichconsists of the inner plates 25 and the outer plates 50 which extend approximately parallel, while the preferred form of corner member B is illustrated in Figure 3and is of a single sided type. The

construction of the corner member in Figure Qmay be used in preference to the other form of the corner and filler member in cases where the crate may be of a construction wherein it is necessary to have a more rigid type of corner filler. The structure of each of the filler members is such as to provide a member adapted to be locked between the corner members 11 and 12 and to fulfill the functions hereinbefore setforth in a simple,

and effective manner.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of operation of my crate and while I have illustrated in the drawings a v particular formation of the same, I desire to have it understood that these illustration-s are only suggestive of a means of carrying out my invention and that the same may be applied to uses other than those above'set forth withinthe scope of y the following claims. .Iclaim:

1. A crate comprising, sides and end walls connected together at the corners by rightangular shaped angle members, an inturned edge formed on the outer right-angular cornor member, a corner filler member adapted to slide between said angle members and be.

locked by said inturned edge in each'corner, and top rails adapted to rest on said corner 'filler member atthe corner; and means for holding said top railslocked to said corner members.

i 2. A crate adapted to form a bottle carrier having sides and ends formed of a series of slats placed one upon the other, cornermembersextending inside and outside of said slat members, corner filler members formed from a piece of sheet material bent in a manner to provide right-angular duble-sided corner fillers which are adapted to be contained within said corner members at each corner, and a top slat rail adapted to rest upon said corner members, said top rails having a channel shaped reinforcing member extending along the lower edge thereof, and

a tongue extending from said channel members adapted to rest upon said corner filler members.

EDl/VARD M. PENNOCK. 

